Oz of Thrones returns… and he is now a full-fledged contributor to WinterIsComing.net! The people have spoken and they want Oz to stay on as the voice of the Unsullied for this site and we are more than happy to oblige. Look for more posts from him during the off-season, providing his signature mix of humor and a fresh take on this show we all love. Here he provides suggestions on how to kill time during this Game of Thrones off-season.

Oz of Thrones: How in the Seven hells is everybody? Your village idiot/infrequent insomniac/semi obsessive-compulsive/realm jester/resident non-book reader of WiC has been made an official member of the team. What in the world are they thinking? (In the light of the Seven, forgive Winter and the Gang, for they know not what they do).

In all seriousness, I am honored to be officially a part of this great site. The readers were a huge part in making this happen and I sincerely thank you all (even my friendly grammar overlord commenters!). Most of all, I thank WinterPhil and Company for allowing me to be a small part of the WiC community. These Lords and a Lady are all professionals and make it possible for Unsullieds like myself to enjoy this site without the worry of being ruined by a small contingent of Sullied who can’t wait to tell us what happens in the books. Cheers to you! I owe each of you a fine dinner and an Iron Throne Blond Ale (if we can ever find any).

Speaking of comments, here is a friendly comment from John. Give it up for John! You all know John…..

plus you have to swear by the old Gods and the new (I hope you are not one of the Red God?) that you will return for season 4, as Unsullied as ever ;-)

I am now sworn by oath to John and all of the fine readers of WiC. Here it is:

I do solemnly swear by the Old Gods and the New, that if therefore WiC and Company have me return, I shall remain Unsullied and will refrain from visiting those Boards of Spoilery forums, wikis of ice and fire, and other websites and/or literary documents that may decay the shock and awe of future Episodes of Game of Thrones forthcoming. I swear this oath from this day, until my last day. Signed in blood…. -Oz

And so it is written.

No Game of Thrones. We knew these empty days were coming, and they came fast and with a vengeance. So, are you suffering from withdrawal symptoms? Despair? Post Season 3 Depression? (Also known as PS3D…. not to be confused with the unreleased Sony Playstation 3D version, which as far as I know does not exist anyway). Fear not! Your Unsullied Leader is in the same boat, so let’s row together.

Here are a few activities (serious and not-so-serious) that you can do to help pass the time. Admittedly, most of these are not good exercises in killing time unless you insist on getting in trouble with the local authorities (see disclaimer at the bottom).

Having said that, if you have any suggestions on good shows to watch, books to read (excluding ASOIAF for the Unsullied), games to play, or any otherwise useless forms of human entertainment in which to partake, please share! Some of you don’t have two small Ozlings to chase around and keep you busy, so use this post to spread some joy.

By the way, has anyone played the Game of Thrones game for PS3 or Xbox? Just curious to know if it was worth a look.

On to the countdown…….

10. Read a book. Since the Unsullied are warned to stay away from the original series of books to prevent the always-lurking spoilers, we must find other alternatives. I got this gem for Father’s Day:

If you are unfamiliar with “graphic novels”, they are basically hard-bound, glossy paper comic books. GRRM wrote the Preface therein and gives his description of the “graphic novel” and tells of his love of comics as a child. WinterPhil has told me that it is a safe read in terms of spoilers, so I am pumped! The book is of course based on a portion of the first novel, and was organized, written, and cut by Daniel Abraham. The illustrations were drawn by Tommy Patterson, and they are absolutely stunning. I am looking forward to getting into it, and might possibly do a book review of it later if you guys are interested (Earth shakes, Hell gets oddly cooler).

9. Go back and rewatch the entire series and count how many times Iain Glen (Ser Jorah Mormont) says “Khaleesi”. Then call all of your non book-reader friends and give them hell about calling Daenerys “Khaleesi.”

8. Drinking version of #9: Steadily drink ale or wine whenever someone is shown drinking in the show. Drink a shot of your favorite liquor for each time “Khaleesi” is repeated. For each time the word is yelled or stretched out (Khaaaaaaleeeeesssiiiii), take two shots at one time. Good luck making it past the end of Season 2.

7. Torture Version: Follow all instructions in the drinking version, but you can only relieve yourself when Hodor says…. well, you know.

6. Dress up in your favorite Game of Thrones costume. Go to Walmart. Run down the aisles and yell “WINTER IS COMING!!”. Make sure you do this in the middle of Summer. See your picture the next day on peopleofwalmart.com.

5. Go to a nice restaurant and request these items from the waiter or waitress, without pausing and while staring down at the menu. Point to specific items on the menu as you order for dramatic effect. In your best Thrones accent, order the following: “I’ll start with the bread and salt appetizer, followed by a bowl of brown and the house onion salad. My meal will be the Flayed Mignon with a side of cheese and lemon cakes and hot pie for dessert. And don’t forget my wolf bread while I wait.” If you are among friends when you do this, do not expect them to ask you to accompany them to dinner again. Ever.

4. Pharmacy version: After running the aisles and still dressed in your GoT attire, go up to the Walmart pharmacy counter tech and say in your best Thrones accent, ”I need to get my milk of the poppy refilled. And I also need the blue liquid that makes the bowels move. I haven’t had a proper shit in 6 days. Dr. Pycelle is my physician.” Then leave. Do not wait for the cops to arrive.

3. Torment a book reader (submitted by Ozzette): Discuss the show with a book reader and intentionally screw up the characters in the scenes. Use vivid details. Example: “That final scene where Jon Snow gets killed at the wedding was just awful. I can’t believe they stabbed Ygritte in the belly. And then to kill his mother Cersei….. oh, I just couldn’t sleep at all.” This should drive them nuts.

3A. Torment a book reader (Oz version): Go to a “book-reader only” thread (don’t read the comments) and discuss the show with something like this: “I still can’t believe Rob died. Catlinn was such a fine woman too. If they had just stayed away from Edmund’s wedding, they would still be alive. I hope Cersay is happy that Jamie is back. And where is Peter Balish? Oh well, I hope Geoffrey dies soon.” This definitely drives them nuts, as they can’t stand name misspellings. Trust me on this one.

2. Invoke Hodor: The next time you and your significant other get into an argument, and that argument reaches a certain boiling point, invoke Hodor. Translation: Once you realize that the argument is pointless and you are not going to win (difficult for us men to recognize most of the time), your response to their next statement, and every subsequent statement is “Hodor.” Granted, this won’t necessarily heal the effects of the argument any faster, but it is much less destructive than continuing the argument and ultimately saying something really bad. Using “Hodor” repeatedly should also end the argument rather quickly. Thank Ozzette for this one also.

1. Rewatch Season 3: The obvious 1st choice. I am already into Episodes 1 and 2, and in my opinion, the Season flows a lot smoother watching them back to back. I would never recommend a marathon viewing, as 10 hours of watching television is healthy for no one. But, if you have the time, watching 2 or 3 episodes in a row seems natural to this Season thus far. My plan is to continue and then write up a “Looking Forward Season 4” when I am done.

**Disclaimer: Neither Oz nor the owner, editor, or contributors of WiC.net are responsible for the repercussions of taking the non-serious suggestions above in a literal sense and actually acting on them. These repercussions could include but are not limited to: going to jail, getting kicked out of Walmart, liver disease, urinary tract infections, being banned from restaurants, being banned from forums, the outcome of domestic disputes, or getting beat up by book readers. It is for cheap entertainment purposes only. Thank you for being smart.

And no offense to my good Sullied friends! A man appreciates you and your sense of humor.

I will be back periodically throughout the offseason with mostly ridiculous banter sprinkled with GoT show stuff. I have some ideas for some off-season offerings I will running by WinterPhil, so stay tuned!

Off-Season Trivia: I have always wanted to know this, but have never asked. The actor that plays the Mountain in the 1st Season is not the same actor that played him in the 2nd Season. Does anyone know what happened to the actor that played him in the 1st Season and why he didn’t return? I figured if anyone knew, it would be one or many of the great WiC readers. 10 points are at stake. Keep your own score.

Until we meet again on the Kingsroad, may there be peace in your realm. -Oz

I’m pretty sure I’ve read that the actor who plays The Mountain in season 1 didn’t want to come back in the 2nd season because he was busy with The Hobbit. The one who plays him next appears under different costumes (giant, white walker…)

Hodor!
Oz, so glad you’re back, & it sounds like you have your OWN chair at the council table! Best news I’ve heard since season 3 ended.
Like your suggestions & can’t wait for your funny humor with your off-season stuff!
Hodor!

Hey OZ congrats!
I tried the Got video game for pc and it is God awful. Game play graphics and voice acting are terrible.The story is kinda cool but my recommendation would be to find a plot summary of the game and save yourself the time of actually playing.

Glad you are remaining OZ!
have you considered reading the first 2 books? you wouldnt be spoiled doing that as the material has akready been covered by the show. you would also gain some good insight into things that the show kind of glosses over.

There are 9 months (more or less) until GOT season 4. Here is what you do each of those months.

1. Watch 1 episode per day of GOT. That takes care of July.
2. Read the books again. That takes care of August.
3. Listen to the audio books. September done.
4. Watch all the DVD/BD episodes with commentary, one per day. Then, since there aren’t 20 episodes with commentary, spend the remaining days watching the extras. October over.
5. NOW FREAK OUT BECAUSE YOU FINISHED ALL THE INTERESTING THINGS TO DO!!!!!!! ARGGGH!!!! November is over.
6. You got too many things on your plate to worry about GOT. December over.
7. Spend every day predicting that the season 4 trailer will be shown during the Super Bowl and then arguing with people who say there is no evidence of HBO doing that.
8. Spend all of February complaining about no Super Bowl trailer and then demanding HBO is run by idiots who don’t know how to build up interest!
9. Watch the trailer 300,000 times as you proclaim HBO marketing a bunch of geniuses.
10. Rewatch the series right before the new season is released.

I would recommend reading the Tales of Dunk & Egg.
The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight
They take place in Westeros and they are all fantastic.
I don’t think any of it contains spoilers because it all takes place about 90 years before the show started.

Abyss: Abyss
Posted June 19, 2013 at 2:23 pm | Permalink
If Oz is a full-fledged contributor to WinterIsComing now, I demand that he takes a house-words-name. We must have our traditions!

There was once a cadet branch of House Martell – House Martell of the Lonely Night – where it gradually became customary to follow certain… …um ‘practices’ with male heirs for obscure reasons that are lost in the sands of time. The house died out soon after these customs became widespread, for reasons rather less chthonic. Their words, while they lasted were ‘Unbowed, Unbent, Unsullied.’

-oOo-

Here’s a game for Summer fun – casting speculation on WHO WILL PLAY THE MOUNTAIN IN S4 on the grounds that due to a certain scene, they want someone with more screen presence than Mr. Odd Job Tall Guy Ian White but they’re not going to rebuild any mutually burnt bridges with Conan. So who will be Mountain no. 3?

#11. Peition WiC.net for a forum, so those of us who actually enjoy the show can steer clear of the cess-pool known as the Westeros.org forums (or, at least, their forums for the TV show). I don’t have a problem with criticism, and have some (mostly minor; a few bigger) issues with the show myself, but I’ve had about as much as I can take of ‘Not like the book = bad.’ The posters here generally have a better grasp on how television operates (i.e. television is not like reading a book), so it’d be nice to have a place to share our discussions without the vitriol.

Also, glad to have you on-board, Oz. Now we just need to hope that everyone makes sure they mark their spoilers at all times (which usually isn’t a problem). And I totally agree with watching 2-3 episode back-to-back is the ideal way to watch the show. This is something the writers realize, as well, it seems. The only time the show ever has to be watched weekly is during the initial airing. I’ve seen a lot of people say that the format of the show should be altered, so that certain story lines get more focus in certain episodes (something they’ve done, to a degree, with this season), but I tend to disagree. When watched in quick succession, the issues regarding the pacing of the individual story lines is all but mitigated, by and large. Like The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos, and many other heavily serialized shows before it, Game of Thrones will ultimately be remembered and judged by viewers as a whole, not as a series of individual episodes, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to alter their established structure too much or too often.

Ah…I misunderstood what you wanted shipped! Maybe the next few months could be spent tracking those “difficult” ingredients down. A note to the UnSullied…some of the GoT Cookbook recipes are actually spoilers! ….…but (fortunately/unfortunately) it doesn’t include Frey pie! Kudos to the authors, who are big ASoI&F fans.

The Marvel ones done for Stephen King’s Dark Tower were pretty good though. I would hope they’re on that level.

personally, I found the graphic novel awful. Totally inferior when compared to the show and the books. Especially the artwork is dreadfull because it lacks the ‘grit’ and the realism that are the trademarks of the show/books.

3 and 3A are guaranteed to really rile book readers, although I’d be weary of venturing in to any book reader thread due to my curse of randomly landing my eyes on the three words on the entire page that sum up the biggest spoiler of any and all works before panic shutting down my laptop and evaluating whether I can unsee it or not. Which is why I’m glad there’s nothing to spoil me on here.

Thrilled to see you as a full contributor now too, brilliant news.

And I second (or third if I’ve been beaten to it) Unbowed, Unbent, Unsullied

I very rarely laugh at posts online (grumpy sod that I am), but this really made me chuckle – great stuff and good to have you officially on board! I’m going to try invoking Hodor with my wife who has never watched or ready any GoT – we’ll see what effect that has…

Re-watch the series from the beginning, with the best GoT-drinking game ever:

Any time a character that is currently dead (up through s3 for show-only watchers, through book 5 for the Sullied) has a line, take a drink.

–

People should check out the series Spartacus, if they haven’t already. It takes a couple episodes at the start to really get up and running, but then just gets better as it goes. The series finale was one of the best I’ve ever seen, totally worth watching!

A really cool 10 episode show to watch to kill some time was the first season of Orphan Black on BBC America. It should be available On Demand and if you don’t get that on demand, the first season will be released soon on Blu Ray. It is a wonderful, sort of SciFi show but the less you know about it going in the better. The lead actress, Tatiana Maslany, just won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series against Claire Danes (Homeland), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Keri Russell (The Americans). Pretty good competition. Most people really enjoy the show.

1st – So glad to have you on-board full-time Oz! Congrats! Loved your Unsullied posts and all of the comments from the Unsullied.
What to do until S4?
I am going to sing “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” and hibernate until then…

Jumping on the BBC America bandwagon, this weekend is the season 2 premiere of Copper, a period drama set in the mid-1860′ s in NYC. If one can get over the fact that the sets/costumes are not as awesome as GoT (not quite the same budget ;-) ), it is a pretty good yarn. At least, I enjoy it!

GeekFurious:
There are 9 months (more or less) until GOT season 4. Here is what you do each of those months.

1. Watch 1 episode per day of GOT. That takes care of July.
2. Read the books again. That takes care of August.
3. Listen to the audio books. September done.
4. Watch all the DVD/BD episodes with commentary, one per day. Then, since there aren’t 20 episodes with commentary, spend the remaining days watching the extras. October over.
5. NOW FREAK OUT BECAUSE YOU FINISHED ALL THE INTERESTING THINGS TO DO!!!!!!! ARGGGH!!!! November is over.
6. You got too many things on your plate to worry about GOT. December over.
7. Spend every day predicting that the season 4 trailer will be shown during the Super Bowl and then arguing with people who say there is no evidence of HBO doing that.
8. Spend all of February complaining about no Super Bowl trailer and then demanding HBO is run by idiots who don’t know how to build up interest!
9. Watch the trailer 300,000 times as you proclaim HBO marketing a bunch of geniuses.
10. Rewatch the series right before the new season is released.

There is no way to be done with the audiobooks in just one month, if you are not listening to them for 24h a day ;)

I listened to them (in german) when i went to bed and needed 6 months to be done with them all.

When the red wedding happened i was more awake then EVER. And i was so manipulated by it, that 2 times i dreamed of reading spoilers on westeros.org. So, while i was on my way through the audiobooks i always waited for these spoilers to happen and they didnt happen. :D

Speaking of GRRM getting the next book finished, if you haven’t seen this music video called Write Like The Wind, you have to check it out, it’s hilarious. And very apt!! I love the comparison to some other fantasy/epic authors.

Mark:
A really cool 10 episode show to watch to kill some time was the first season of Orphan Black on BBC America. … The lead actress, Tatiana Maslany, just won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series

hinka:
1 to 10: Write everyday GRRM an email or on Not-a-blog till you get from him an answer when Wind of Winters will be finshed. When he tells you the date your task is done, if not try it the next day.

Now that your question has been answered, if we ever see the Mountain again, i’d like it to be Conan Stevens (providing he’s not doing the Hobbit at the time) I’ve nothing against Ian White (Mountain season 2) but I think Conan is better for the mountain.

I know you don’t want to spoil anything in the series (and I’m thankful for it! I very much enjoy your Unsullied POV) but are you not a little tempted to read books 1&2 (and half book 3) while waiting for season 3?

I assume you meant waiting for Season 4, and the answer is hell yes! The only thing that has kept me from doing so before I started writing for WiC were the two Ozlings and the time constraint associated with children.

A while back, I asked if it was safe to read those and OitF told me very quickly that there was a danger in doing so. I know some have disagreed, but I value her opinion and decided it was safer just to stay away for now.

I imagine myself being very overweight reading the entire series on a beach somewhere once it is complete and the show is concluded.

To answer your final question, no one on the outside seems to be sure what happened to Conan Stevens (Ser Gregor). Stevens claimed on his website that HBO did not ask him back and implied he was disappointed and didn’t understand why. HBO said they asked him back but he had conflicts with other roles (presumably The Hobbit) and turned them down. ???

Oh, and here’s his comment in the article above (I’m assuming you don’t want to scroll through the comments section):

”

First up I would like to say thanks to WIC for yet again letting us actors know what is happening.

KG and the detractors – if you knew actually me or had seen any of my proper acting work your opinion would have weight then people might give your opinions some consideration. Also a major speaking role in a smaller production is better than being labled as just another big brute who can’t be trusted to speak on camera – not saying this was the option in GOT vs Spartacus as Gregor has some interesting scenes later on that I would have liked to have done but careers are not built on minor appearances in big productions, otherwise all the Pro-Wrestlers who had played small roles would be stars now.

To everyone else who supported me I have to say thankyou, getting in GOT opened the audition doors for Hobbit, which opened the door to Spartacus and now a potential major role in a new movie depending on Hobbit scheduling conflicts, but in any case I now have a much better future.

I am now able to get into auditions that I want to get into and my ability from there carries me or not – I have the chance to prove myself that I previously did not have and that is all I have asked for from my career – a fair go.

Thanks again, I probably won’t post on WIC again as I will have nothing relevant to say, it has been a pleasure with some of the most literate and interesting emails I ever received coming from people on here.”

That makes it sounds like for whatever reason he’s done with the show. :(

I would be one of those who disagrees, I just don’t see how it would be spoilery to read the story up to the point where season 3 ends. You will get a new perspective of things of course when you’ve read the books, and as always there are parts omitted and prophecies glossed over but I would definately not call it spoilery. However, since you’ve already made your decision I wish you good luck on your quest to stay 100% spoiler-free of anything GRRM!

I know this is not the place at all for book discussions, but I just wanted to say my piece about what I think about this, because I very much disagree with Ours-is-the-Fury on this one.

Everyone should watch Revolution. If you endure all 20 episodes, i garantee you will gain new perspective and admiration about GoT writing and acting.

Now bit more seriously, agree with Teresa “Dune” is excelent book/serie of books if you like epic story with many political, religious, cultural and philosophical aspects.

“Hyperion” series from Dan Simmons is something for those who are looking for emotional moments similar to Ned execution or RW.

“Cyteen” ¨from C. J. Cherryh is for those looking for story involving inapropriate sexual relations and well written strong female characters. Main character is like Cersei, ruthless, stuborn, powerhungry, but she is smart instead of being stupid and readers opinion on her change during book similary to Jamie. It is sci-fi, but very civil, psychological story of girl coming of age in very paranoid atmosphere.(warning: first 80 or so pages are extremly boring, but necessary set up for what come next).

I can’t recommend enough the impressive Game of Thrones mod for the game Crusader Kings 2 by Paradox Interactive. What the creators of the mods have made is simply mind boggling. They cover the whole history of Westeros and their scenarios go as far as A Feast for Crows ( so beware spoilers for this scenario). I think the mod makers try to avoid any blatant spoilers, but be careful nonetheless.

Crusader Kings 2 is a deep and complex dynasty/strategy game, so don’t expect intense sword fighting, but again, I had tense and incredible adventures as Robb trying to the lead the Stark dynasty, or simply as a Targaryen conquering Westeros with my dragons.

The mod makers just updated their mod so it’s compatible with the latest update of the game. The basic game is sufficient enough to get the mod running.
So between my rereading of the five books and this game/mod, I’m all set to wait for Season 4.

I would recommend listening to the Boars, Gore and Swords podcast to pass the time. Every offseason of Game of Thrones, these two comedians read through the previous book and have a weekly book club podcast about it. It’s very entertaining.

Dexter returns for the final season in 10 days.
Breaking Bad, AKA The Greatest Show That Ever Was And Ever Will Be, returns for the final 8 episodes in August 11th.
There’s a new historical drama about War of the Roses, The White Queen – the first episode was pretty good and it was nice to see James Frain in medieval setting again.
Then there’s the autumn TV season.
Watch Vikings if you already haven’t, it’s the best new show this year.
I’ve read a bunch of Bernard Cornwell books lately – his Warlord Chronicles series and The Saxon Stories series. Highly recommended historical fiction.
Malazan Book of the Fallen series has 10 ASOS-sized books and it’s already finished. It’s pretty good too.

Apparently the Finding Bigfoot people will actually find bigfoot before some of us manage to get ahold of the GoT beer.
To kill time I will rewatch the X-Files and try to convince my friend to play Rains of Castamere at her wedding reception.
Any Unsullied who want to piss off book readers should say “My favorite characters are Catelyn and Edmure, but I hate that Blackfish. He is the worst!” Cleaning up after the exploded heads should eat up a good chunk of time.

Huzzah, happy to have Oz of Thrones with us for a while yet – and hopefully a long one!

6. Dress up in your favorite Game of Thrones costume. Go to Walmart. Run down the aisles and yell “WINTER IS COMING!!”. Make sure you do this in the middle of Summer. See your picture the next day on peopleofwalmart.com.

I think “Winter is coming” and “Valar Morghulis” have become two of my favorite sayings. I’d almost do this dare, except for that whole public embarrassment thing. I would definitely consider doing it for free Iron Throne Blonde Ales, though. :-)

So happy to have you back, Oz, and thanks once again for the chuckles. Your posts always make me smile!

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Reading A Storm of Swords now and my intention is to stop after the Red Wedding. But … I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself and this once I will be a Sullied for season IV. Hodor!

Would you say the first half of the first book in the Malazan series is representative of what the series is like? If so, count me out. If it gets much, much better after that I might give it another shot.

I only watched the first episode of breaking bad and it was seriously boring. Reading books 1&2 will not spoil anything-but will probably give you an idea of things missing. Unsullied posts are always great fun.

True story: Last night I got a puppy. His name is HODOR! Now I can take him to public places and have a completely legitimate reason to shout Hodor excessively in public! :) And I am incredibly excited about it, lol.

And just to instill some jealousy…I’m seeing comments about the beer. You all must hate the fact that I knew when and where they would be delivered locally and was able to get a whole case, the very day they got distributed. Had me an Iron Throne Blonde during each and every episode of season 3. They were delicious! Muahahahaha! : )

Tales of Dunk & Egg are a good idea. If you like sci-fi and want some more spoiler-free Martin after that, I highly recommend Tuf Voyaging. I just read it and loved it. It shows GRRM definitely does know how to write an ending.

If you ever do consider giving Breaking Bad another shot…season 4 is the best season of a show I’ve ever seen. Closely followed by The Wire season 4. I’m hoping GoT will complete the trifecta of season 4 perfection next year!

Last I saw of Conan Stevens aka The First Mountain, was him getting his face cut off in “Spartacus: Vengeance “. I hope he comes back next season and beyond…no disrespect to Ian Whyte aka The Second Mountain.

Very nice list, though some of the activities listed there could be a bit impractical since I am one of the Sullied.

Other than that I’m currently reading Patrick Rothfuss’s “The Wise Man’s Fear” Day Two of the Kingkiller Chronicle. After this I will endeavor to finish the last couple of novels in Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel Of Time”. Of course I will undertake a marathon viewing of Season Three..and then I will commit myself to multiple viewings of “Kingdom Of Heaven “. I’m in the middle of rewatching “The Shield “…Plus then there is the new season of “The Killing ” and the new shows “Ray Donovan” and “Low Winter Sun ” and soon it will be time for the fourth season of “Boardwalk Empire”. Then there is “The Hobbit : The Desolation Of Smaug” to look forward to…

Plenty of stuff to keep busy until we get the first teasers and trailers from Got Season Four…

Yay! Oz is here to stay. very good news. Looking forward to your interim posts in the next very long 10 months.

Also, someone already suggested it, but I highly recommend The White Queen, if any of you have access to BBC. It’s based on the War of the Roses, a period of political scheming and turmoil in medieval England, and an event that highly influenced GRRM’s writing of A Song of Ice andFire. So quite relevant to viewers headed for a Games of Thrones withdrawal crash, of which I am one. Only one episode has aired yet and it’s a 10 eipsode mini-series, but excellent so far.

Speaking as one of the choir who suggested/requested/demanded weeks ago that Oz be made a full-patch contributor, I thank and congratulate the Wic.net powers that be!
I too laughed alone in front of my screen tonight! 5, 4, 3 and 3A are all great! Stannis the grammar nazi has too many fans…

But tradition has to be served… Oz of Thrones has come to be known under that particular identity, but I concur that the words of a Great House would be nice to see adopted by one of our, ahem, heroes! (even if only as a secondary signature)

Nick Larter: There was once a cadet branch of House Martell – House Martell of the Lonely Night – where it gradually became customary to follow certain… …um ‘practices’ with male heirs for obscure reasons that are lost in the sands of time.The house died out soon after these customs became widespread, for reasons rather less chthonic.Their words, while they lasted were ‘Unbowed, Unbent, Unsullied.’

John:“Oz of Thrones returns… and he is now a full-fledged contributor to WinterIsComing.net!”
Oz needs an own account!!!

I think that the above two suggestions are nice adaptation. So if we review the available words from Great (7-kingdom level) Houses:

1- Tully’s “Family, Duty, honor”, famously altered eponimously by “Family, Duty, Hodor”!
2- Arryn’s “As High as Honor”, a classic. with funny abbreviation: “Ah-Ah!”
3- Tyrrell’s “Growing Strong”, dismissed as boring by Grandma Olenna, though I’m not entirely convinced by her
4- GreyJoy’s “We do not sow”, previously used but, apparently freed up (?) I do like John’s “We do not Spoil” tweak, which would be an ever-present reminder!
5- Martell’s “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” and Nick Larter’s tweak “Unbowed, Unbent, Unsullied”. I think the last one is my favorite. I would refer to you as “UUU” !!! (ANother variation would be Unbowed, Unbent, Unspoiled”

I’m a book reader so by no means should I post here but I just had to say this (no spoilers)

The best way to bridge the gap, guaranteed, is to read the books. However this only works once as you can easilly finish the whole series in a ten months and then you have to start finding a new way to bridge the gap and nothing I’ve found so far can beat reading the books so you Unsullied score points as well.

Another Thing to Do to Beat Game of Thrones Withdrawal – Visit Winter Is Coming each day to find out the latest GoT news and read some great opinion pieces! I can’t wait to start hearing about the new amazing actors that will be cast for season 4! That’s always fun :)

Congrats on the full-time position on W-i-C, thoroughly deserved dear chap!

As a sullied I try not to post in your threads for fear of letting something slip, but I do believe congratulations are in order, so here I am!

In terms of awesome TV – check out Ripper Street. It’s a police drama about the detectives working Whitechapel just after the Jack the Ripper murders, and it’s very nicely made – very much in the style of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films.

Another bonus for you, it was filmed in Northern Ireland around the same time as Game of Thrones was, so each of the six episodes of season 1 are like a game of “Spot the Game of Thrones Actors”. I won’t spoil who crops up in it, except to say that Jerome Flynn is one of the main characters, playing a part which is essentially Bronn with a conscience.

I highly recommend this series, the first episode is a little slow, but the rest run at breakneck speed, and I am absolutely looking forward to Season 2.

Other shows to watch if you haven’t already: Sons of Anarchy, Person of Interest, Defiance. Particularly Person of Interest, it’s one of the best shows on television.

Good to hear more of you off-season Oz!
To minimize the PS3D I startetd re-reading “A Game of Thrones”, and will read “A Clash of Kings” 3 chapters a week with the “A Game of Owns” podcast people.
Then I just got hold of the first two Hedge Knight graphic novells so I can finally dive into that one, too. In September there will be a volume with the first three Hedge Knight stories comming out in Germany though I really do consider waiting for the English version, the translated names are often very… uhm… “different”. And it makes it harder recognising names that I only every heard/read in English.
Rewatching season 3 on one WE as soon as I have all episodes recorded on my Sky-Receiver and certainly at some point between now and season 4 I will watch all three seasons back to back (as good as possible). Audiocommentary is a good idea, too. Haven’t had time for all of those yet.
And of course I will check on WiC daily for any news and rumors about season 4.

Congrats Oz,
indeed there are many things to do to endure those nine throne-less months. Some people already mentioned the Dunk & Egg stories. I concur because you won’t be spoiled, plus there are some unique GrrM moments in those books that’ ll blow your mind. I haven’t red them in book form, rather as graphic novels, so if you like the GoT comic you mentioned, you’ll definitely love these ones.

Talking about spoiling and the abstinence of anything ASoIaF related, I wanted to ask you how do you cope with casting news? I mean there will be many characters’ names announced, all of them new, some of them with a huge part. Do you consider them spoilers? And if so, how one can avoid this to remain unsullied?
It’s not an easy task and I’m glad I’m not in your shoes so I wish you luck until the next spring, you’re gonna need it.

Would you say the first half of the first book in the Malazan series is representative of what the series is like? If so, count me out. If it gets much, much better after that I might give it another shot.

It doesn’t on the second part of Book 1 and the beginning of Book 2. Thye told me it gets better by book 3-4 but then falls around book 6. I’m out and won’t come back.

PS: I’m gonna write a “TOP 10 books similar to ASOIAF” (for any reason, mainly because they’re fucking good). Be right back ;)

Would you say the first half of the first book in the Malazan series is representative of what the series is like? If so, count me out. If it gets much, much better after that I might give it another shot.

Yes and no. It gets better but mostly you grow into it. Malazan is not a series you immediately like and can’t stop reading. That bit comes later. At first it takes some considerable getting into. But I promise you that when you;’re hooked, you’re really hooked and there is no letting go. I tossed away the first book 200 opages in at first and than a year later reread it and eventually read past those 200 pages and about halfway through the book I got accustomed to the whole mood and feel of the series and it’s very complicated storystructure and I saw just how good it was. Finished it in 2 days. I’m currently reading book 6 and can’t stop reading.

“10 Books To Read while you wait for Game of Thrones because they’re fucking awesome List” (and also because they’re related to A Son of Ice andFire in one way or another)

1- “The Farseer Trilogy” by Robin Hobb (or anything by her). Wonderful prose, best character development you’ll ever encounter, adult themes…you’ll specially like this if Jon is one of your favourite characters.

2- “The First Law Trilogy” by Joe Abercrombie (or anything by him. I specially like his last two books, “The Heroes” and “Red Country”). Dark and gritty they say, but again wonderfully developed characters…also smart and stingy prose, adult themes, great all around.

3-” The Witcher” saga by Andrzej Sapkowski. Great characters covering all shades of grey, intelligent prose, ironic, unforgiving…again adult themes with lots of sex and great realism. Only trouble is not fully translated to english but it is to many other languages . Or you can also play the video games, wich are between the best in the RPG gener.

4- “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn” by Tad Williams. Of the more “classic” stuff, I’d choose this over The Wheel of Time, for exemple. As the name suggests has a touch of melancholy, of sadness, that puts it closer to ASoIaF in my opinion. Stay away from “Shadowmarch” though.

5-“Prince of Nothing” series by R. Scott Bakker. Often mentioned by the importance of phylosophy in the series, I’d like to add that Bakker writes incredibly well. Complex, huge, lots of characters, in that regard similar to Martin or Malazan, but much better than the latter.

This top 5 are my favourite, the next five I chose for different reasons.

6- “The Black Company” by Glenn Cook. An autor of the early 80’s, one of the fathers of the “dark & gritty” fantasy that is so common nowadays. Great books. Another great autor of that generation would be David Gemmell and his “Waylander” series

7-“Prince of Thorns” by Mark Lawrence. I add this because is the last book I read that I liked. Dark, gritty adult blablabla, and the main character is pretty villanous so read this if you like Jaime. ;) Haven’t read the follow ups yet so I’m not sure how it develops

8- “Elric of Melnibone” saga by Michael Moorcok. A classic. You could say if Tolkien is the father of Martin, Moorcock is his bastard uncle. ASoIaF would not exist without Moorcocks work.

9- Anything by Haruki Murakami. Magical Realism at its best. Read this if you want to look cool and still read fantasy ;) And what the hell, his books are beautiful.

10- And a Graphic Novel to finish: Fritz Leiber “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” adaptation by Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola and Al Williamson. What can I say? Chaykin and Mignola adapting the father of “Sword and Sorcery”, doesn’t get better than this.

Hope you enjoy them ;)

Ah, and I’ll be back in a few with the “5 Books they’ve told you are like Game of Thrones but are not or totally suck balls List”!

I also would like to propose watching The White Queen mini-series (currently airing on BBC and coming to Starz in August ( but with more explicit content I believe from reading an article the other day), only 1 episode aired so far but it definitely got me interested. As previously mentioned it’s set during The Wars of The Roses (the House of York & The House of Lancaster, ring any bells?) which, in turn, was apparently inspiration for GRRM whilst writing ASOIAF.
Also if you like (or have discovered you like medieval drama through GOT), Pillars of The Earth, another mini series is, imo, a good watch and it’s sequel World Without End. Both book adaptations which I haven’t read.

HBO need to link up with a good online games company and make GoT the MMO! My friend and I were talking about this, I even sent HBO an email about it. We play Aion and Forsaken world among other things, if they made GoT along those lines with all the TV characters and some more from the book that didn’t make the tv cut, OMG I can’t bear to think how many hours I would spend on the computer…but it would definitely fill the void! We tried watching the DVDs of S1 and 2 but it’s hard, every time Robb Stark comes on screen we start crying like the girls we are!

I’d definitely play an online version! I caught a few video reviews of the game, it looks pretty complex and fun. I tried to get my wife to watch, but she turned up her nose (not a gamer). Just a side note, we did start playing Small World (which I bought a year ago!) and are enjoying it so far.

Also if you like (or have discovered you like medieval drama through GOT), Pillars of The Earth, another mini series is, imo, a good watch and it’s sequel World Without End. Both book adaptations which I haven’t read.

I’ve read both books and liked them in general (Pillars slightly more that WWE), so I’d recommend them too.
The adaptations are a very different beast though. Pillars is good if you didn’t read the book, because it changes a lot of the story for no apparent reason. The cast and the production values are good, so the enjoyment from this mini-series depends on how well do you like the source material.
WWE adaptation is a complete and utter shit with absolutely no redeeming qualities. The story barely resembles the book, the acting ranges from simply bland to atrociously bad, it looks cheap. You know that no one in the production team cared when they get the date of the Black Death epidemic wrong. Avoid it like the plague.

We got into The Secret World last year and then moved over into Age of Conan this year. MMOs are great time sinks, and I would agree with you that a GoT (or ASOIAF) MMO would be incredible! I can’t imagine how they would make a game that could host thousands of players and find a way to make it meaningful for each player (in terms of the themes we love so much from the series, like politics, honor, intrigue, etc.). But if they do, I’m there!

Pau Soriano:
“10 Books To Read while you wait for Game of Thrones because they’re fucking awesome List” (and also because they’re related to A Son of Ice andFire in one way or another)

Don’t entirely agree with this list.

1- “The Farseer Trilogy” by Robin Hobb (or anything by her). Wonderful prose, best character development you’ll ever encounter, adult themes…you’ll specially like this if Jon is one of your favourite characters.

I’m currently reading it but so far it’s not much like ASOIAF. It’s a pretty linear narative and not even half as dark and mature as ASOIAF. There’s some political scheming but generally this is a bit too much goody two shoes for me.

2- “The First Law Trilogy” by Joe Abercrombie (or anything by him. I specially like his last two books, “The Heroes” and “Red Country”). Dark and gritty they say, but again wonderfully developed characters…also smart and stingy prose, adult themes, great all around.

I’m also reading The First Law and have to agree with you here. It’s a bit simpler and more linear than ASOIAF but it’s got a similar mood and feel. It does lack Martin’s strong female characters but overall it’s an enjoyable read and a decent substitute for ASOIAF.

4- “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn” by Tad Williams. Of the more “classic” stuff, I’d choose this over The Wheel of Time, for exemple. As the name suggests has a touch of melancholy, of sadness, that puts it closer to ASoIaF in my opinion. Stay away from “Shadowmarch” though.

This isn’t similar at all to ASOIAF imo. It’s a very linear narative in a tried and true fantasy fashion. Also it’s really slow paced. Much more than ASOIAF.

5-”Prince of Nothing” series by R. Scott Bakker. Often mentioned by the importance of phylosophy in the series, I’d like to add that Bakker writes incredibly well. Complex, huge, lots of characters, in that regard similar to Martin or Malazan, but much better than the latter.

Haven’t read Prince of Nothing so not going to comment on that but I do think you’re being a bit to rigorous about Malazan and might thereby chase people away from what in my opinion is an absolutely terrific fantasy series. Malazan in my opinion is the best fantasy saga out there. Right after ASOIAF. You don’t have to like it but don’t disencourage people from reading it. Let them try first. Loads of people like Malazan and it is generally perceived as very good. It scored second place on the Bast Fantasy Series top 25 and scored 7th place on the reader version of that list.

This top 5 are my favourite, the next five I chose for different reasons.

6- “The Black Company” by Glenn Cook. An autor of the early 80′s, one of the fathers of the“dark & gritty” fantasy that is so common nowadays. Great books.

If you like The Black Company you have to give Malazan another try. It’s basically The Black Company but far more complicated.

10- And a Graphic Novel to finish: Fritz Leiber “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser” adaptation by Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola and Al Williamson. What can I say? Chaykin and Mignola adapting the father of “Sword and Sorcery”, doesn’t get better than this.

If you can also add Graphic Novels I’d recommend Ravine. Very simialar to ASOIAF in many ways. A complicated non-linear narative with well developed characters and a dark mature plot.

Ah, and I’ll be back in a few with the “5 Books they’ve told you are like Game of Thrones but are not or totally suck balls List”!

I really hope you;re not going to do that. It’s completely subjective and very insulting to the fans of those books. And no I’m not just saying that because I know you’re going to include Malazan.

yea it is very hard to explain but its really not that bad once you just start. We normally play a few rounds as a trial to teach new people then start over and it is amazing. We text each other during to set up alliances so we can talk to people with out having to leave the table.

Game of Thrones Ascent is a pretty good time sink. And it follows the show, so there won’t be any spoilers for upcoming seasons. It’s available from http://www.kongregate.com, on Facebook, and now on the Disruptor Beam website.

Also, the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher is a really fun series.
And I second Bernard Cornwell. He’s one of the authors that GRRM himself highly recommends.

You might wanna check with the OitF, Winter & Co. but I don’t think the Tales of Dunk & Egg have any spoilers.
They are 50-80 pages each, quick reads all from one perspective and I feel like they really enrich the ASOIAF world.
You can probably get them all read within 2 weeks during your “toilet time”.
You see ancestors of a lot of major players in the series and maybe 2-3 that are still alive (but old) in the show.

For those suggesting Oz should use a house motto now as he’s a full-fledged contributor, I think I’ve a better idea: why not to suggest GRRM (or D&D) to write in a house of Oz as some lesser house in Westeros or Essos? This could be even possible as GRRM has already made intertextual references to Robert Jordan and Tad Williams in the books. :)

I’m currently reading it (“The Farseer Trilogy”) but so far it’s not much like ASOIAF. It’s a pretty linear narative and not even half as dark and mature as ASOIAF. There’s some political scheming but generally this is a bit too much goody two shoes for me.

It’s different from ASOIF in many aspects, but as I said it has the best character development you’ll ever encounter, the way it handles many themes is much more mature than Martin, is realistic, has low magic and on top of that has the best prose of anything on the list. Yes, it doesn’t have as much sex and violence and is not as “soap-opery” hooking as ASOIAF, and the first books seem smaller in scope, but they expand and expand both in magnitude and in depth. But basically read it for the prose , the characters and the maturity.

This isn’t similar at all to ASOIAF imo. It’s a very linear narative in a tried and true fantasy fashion. Also it’s really slow paced. Much more than ASOIAF.

Agree, that’s what I said that is the more “Martinesque” of the “classical” fantasies, in my opinion. I tried to be diverse on the recommendations, so to those that like their fantasies closer to Tolkien, this is a great choice

If you like The Black Company you have to give Malazan another try. It’s basically The Black Company but far more complicated.

And awfully written :P I don’t mind complicated, but you’ll have to agree with me that Erikson’s prose is pretty bad . That killed the book for me.

I do think you’re being a bit to rigorous about Malazan and might thereby chase people away from what in my opinion is an absolutely terrific fantasy series. You don’t have to like it but don’t disencourage people from reading it

You sound as if I’m doing people a disservice ,but I couldn’t disagree more! When I’m looking for a new series to read I check the best rated positive reviews, and the best rated negative ones, and ALWAYS find the negative ones far more helpful to assess if that book is for me or not ;)

Look, ASOIAF has many things to like, and some people like some aspects more than other, and hence the recommendations have to be different. Some focus on character development, and others would prefer world-building and big political machinations in a dark and gritty world. If you prefer the former go read Hobb, but if you are all for the latter Erikson is your man. But someone has to tell you that Hobb has a pretty slow pace and that Erikson can’t write, or else you could be sorely disappointed, and that would be the ones writing negative reviews ;)

I really hope you;re not going to do that. It’s completely subjective and very insulting to the fans of those books.

Wooot if you feel insulted because I don’t like the same books as you do there’s something wrong here :P

Anyway, take that list with a grain of salt, I don’t want to offend anyone, and a little transgression is never bad ;) (plus I’m sure OZ would approve!)

It’s different from ASOIF in many aspects, but as I said it has the best character development you’ll ever encounter, the way it handles many themes is much more mature than Martin, is realistic, has low magic and on top of that has the best prose of anything on the list. Yes, it doesn’t have as much sex and violence and is not as “soap-opery” hooking as ASOIAF, and the first books seem smaller in scope, but they expand and expand both in magnitude and in depth. But basically read it for the prose , the characters and the maturity.

I’m not that very far into it yet but so far I don’t think it handles the themes in a very mature way. Nor do I find it very realistic although arguably fantasy by nature is not realistic. The prose is good but I’m not over the mon about it. It;s pretty standard fnatsy prose mostly. Say what you will about Malazan but at least the prose is original. The characters are to my mind so far a bit flat. But again I guess all that has a lot to do with personal preferences.

Agree, that’s what I said that is the more “Martinesque” of the “classical” fantasies, in my opinion. I tried to be diverse on the recommendations, so to those that like their fantasies closer to Tolkien, this is a great choice

I think Tolkienesque fantasy is not a good substitute for ASOIAF but let’s agree to diagree there.

And awfully written :P I don’t mind complicated, but you’ll have to agree with me that Erikson’s prose is pretty bad . That killed the book for me.

Let’s agree to disagree there as well than. It takes some considerable getting used to but I really enjoy his prose. It’s often odd but very original and sometimes imo very poetic. I’ve quoted Malazan on several ocassions.

You sound as if I’m doing people a disservice ,but I couldn’t disagree more! When I’m looking for a new series to read Icheck the best rated positive reviews, and the best rated negative ones, and ALWAYS find the negative ones far more helpful to assess if that book is for me or not

Look, ASOIAF has many things to like, and some people like some aspects more than other, and hence the recommendations have to be different. Some focus on character development, and others would prefer world-building and big political machinations in a dark and gritty world. If you prefer the former go read Hobb, but if you are all for the latter Erikson is your man.

Hmmm I’d say Hobb’s books so far also have some pretty big political machinisations and Erikson’s pretty good at developing interesting characters as well but overall I get your point.

But someone has to tell you that Hobb has a pretty slow pace and that Erikson can’t write, or else you could be sorely disappointed, and that would be the ones writing negative reviews

Wooot if you feel insulted because I don’t like the same books as you do there’s something wrong here

I think you’re missing the point here. What angers me is not how you feel about Malazan. Think of it whatever you like. It’s the fact that you state your personale feelings as facts. “Erikson can’t write” Uh no: you think Erikson can’t write. It’s an opinion not a fact.

Anyway we can bicker about this for all eternity and it wouldn’t help either of us a great deal. You have your way of expressing yourself I have mine. Maybe I’m old fashioned maybe not. Either way it doesn’t really matter.

Also something on a more interesting note: it seems opinions are generally split up about this series with quite a few people voicing the smae complaints you did. On the other hand there are also loads of people who do seem to like it and the books frequently end up in top fantasy books/series lists. So clearly it’s a bit of a love or hate series. At least one thing we can agree on: it’s not run of the mill instantly forgettable.

Oz of Thrones,
I wouldn’t necessarily say it ties in but it does show the ASOIAF world during the Targaryen heyday. It’s all from one character’s perspective and a lot happens. Definitely gives you a better sense of the world they live in.
Plus the stories are awesome

David The Grey: Has anyone tried this?I have neither a large enough group of like-minded, close by friends (read: none), nor the chunk of time, to play it.Just curious!

The board game is very good but if players don’t have any experience with more complicated games than Monopoly it may be hard to get started. The game really shines with 6 players but it isn’t any good with 3-4 players IMO.

Also something on a more interesting note: it seems opinions are generally split up about this series with quite a few people voicing the smae complaints you did. On the other hand there are also loads of people who do seem to like it and the books frequently end up in top fantasy books/series lists. So clearly it’s a bit of a love or hate series. At least one thing we can agree on: it’s not run of the mill instantly forgettable.

Yeah Is not Terry Goodkind (another that I wanted to put on that list for exemple. Wich I started to write but at the end gave up because I’m sure people will get offended and is not my intention). But he really can’t write man :P And yeah that’s my opinion, not a fact of course, but it’s just a way of saying I really dislike his writing style ;)

Look, read this post wich I found in goodreads and it’s really well written and fun and summarizes my point of view much better that I could ever do. And even if you don’t agree with it its a great read, really.
( Almost as good as the infamous 1star review that its on the first position of the awful “A Wise Man’s Fear”, wich is the most funny review I ever read, specially when you get to the Ferulian bit with the graphs at the end haha)

Anyway, don’t give up on Hobb, the first 3 are good, but the next 3 (The Liveship Traders) are even better, and the third trilogy (The Tawny man) it’s amazing

Pau Soriano: Yeah Is not Terry Goodkind (another that I wanted to put on that list for exemple. Wich I started to write but at the end gave up because I’m sure people will get offended and is not my intention). But he really can’t write man :P And yeah that’s my opinion, not a fact of course. Look, read this post wich I found in goodreads and it’s really well written and fun and summarizes my point of view much better that I could ever do. And even if you don’t agree with it its a great read, really.
( Almost as good as the infamous 1star review that its on the first position of the awful “A Wise Man’s Fear”, wich is the most funny review I ever read, specially when you get to the Ferulian bit with the graphs at the end haha)

I’m glad you didn’t make that list. I think you would’ve angered quite a few people with it. Still on the subject of Terry Goodkind we pretty much see eye to eye. It’s not very good imo. (which is putting it mildly) Could you pst a link to the goodreads reviews you’re refering to? I haven’t read A Wise Man’s Fear cause since Riftwar I found out I don’t like books with a heavy emphasis on magic.

Anyway, don’t give up on Hobb, the first 3 are good, but the next 3 (The Liveship Traders) are even better, and the third trilogy (The Tawny man) it’s amazing

Er…I uhm kinda read Ship of Magic lately and didn’t really like it. That’s why I started reading Farseer because like Ship of Magic it was recommended by GRRM and I hoped Farseer would be more like ASOIAF. So far it isn’t.

Fanfiction! I am a huge fanfiction reader (sometimes writer) and this mode of entertainment has helped me through the delayed releases of many books and tv shows. What if Ned Stark had lived? There’s a fanfic for that! (“Ned Stark Lives!” by cbstevp, a work in progress but highly recommended for Sullied) What if Tyrion had been thrown out the moon door, or Stannis had become the King’s Hand? How will Jon Snow react to finding out who his mother is, if he ever does? Who will take the Iron Throne in the end? These and many other questions have been answered, in the minds of fanfic writers, but they are often very spoilery, so Unsullied beware. Also you have to wade through mountains of Sansa/Hound shipping and modern high school retellings, but there are a few good ones. Write your own!

2. Plot to take over the world! Chaos is a ladder.

3. Tvtropes.com! This site is awesome. See how many fantasy tropes ASOIAF has used, subverted, deconstructed, or averted. I also often use this site to find books/movies/shows with similar plot elements that I enjoy.

Fanfiction! I am a huge fanfiction reader (sometimes writer) and this mode of entertainment has helped me through the delayed releases of many books and tv shows. What if Ned Stark had lived? There’s a fanfic for that! (“Ned Stark Lives!” by cbstevp, a work in progress but highly recommended for Sullied) What if Tyrion had been thrown out the moon door, or Stannis had become the King’s Hand? How will Jon Snow react to finding out who his mother is, if he ever does? Who will take the Iron Throne in the end?

Robin Hobb really sucks at the second books of trilogies. They often feel like filler to stretch out the story before the good stuff happens. I’m glad she dropped the trilogy thing in the Rain Wilds Chronicles. I find it interesting how many superficial similarities there are in Assasin’s Apprentice to ASOIAF. A noble bastard! A royal stag house! Animal bonding! Stone dragons coming to life! Interestingly, they were first released in 1995 and 1996. Were the authors friends? I love the Realm of the Elderlings series, but I am mad at Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb’s real name) because she has banned fanfiction on her works. I want to start a secret underground fanfiction network just to spite her.

:-) Yeah, I suppose they could have stated that you could swap the pork with any “white” meat of your choice, just to be subtle. Alternate versions of the recipe are due to arrive via Hannibal Lector’s cookbook shortly. Furthermore, there is a version of “Fried, Green Tomatoes” that is also worth considering….

How to spend the off-season:
1. Write DVD commentary on behalf of the characters (not the actors)
2. Create Game of Thrones/Dune mashup video (hmmm…)
3. Write a POV chapter for every character in the books who says anything

I just watched a British miniseries, where I saw four GoT castmembers in the first 15 minutes, two of them having major supporting roles, another one being the villain, and one killed off in said 15 minutes. The fifth castmember joins in, in episode two, for a minor, yet important supporting role.

I was planning on reading The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory but I got sidetracked by Russell Brand’s schooling of the Morning Joe MSNBC crew the other day and I decided to read his Booky Wook first. He’s brilliant so The White Queen will have to wait probably til I finish that & Booky Wook 2. :)

I just watched a British miniseries, where I saw four GoT castmembers in the first 15 minutes, two of them having major supporting roles, another one being the villain, and one killed off in said 15 minutes. The fifth castmember joins in,in episode two, for a minor, yet important supporting role.

What is the name of the series, and who are the castmembers.

Guess away……

Misfits? But I only remember the actors that play Ramsay, Catelyn and Pyp there. Who were the other two?

I appreciate the feedback. I doubt I could wrangle up 5 other interested players. My LCS (local comic shop) has a game night on Fridays, but they don’t start until after hours and they stay up to the wee hours of the morning. Not only are they not really that local (30 minute drive), I’d probably get pulled over for being asleep at the wheel. However, just talking about it is making me itch to check into it a bit more, might have to make some inquiries on my next trip. But – an online version of such a boardgame would eliminate my travel & late night issues. I can dream.

It made me chuckle about you texting during the game to have secret conversations with what I take it might be your allies one turn and enemies the next. Clever! What a great way to use the technology!

I don’t mean to be rude but I couldn’t get through ten minutes of Game of Thrones Ascent. Maybe I’ve had too much experience with first person games…I don’ t know. Just seemed really, really boring to me.

Winterdark: I’m glad you didn’t make that list. I think you would’ve angered quite a few people with it. Still on the subject of Terry Goodkind we pretty much see eye to eye. It’s not very good imo. (which is putting it mildly) Could you pst a link to the goodreads reviews you’re refering to? I haven’t read A Wise Man’s Fear cause since Riftwar I found out I don’t like books with a heavy emphasis on magic.

Er…I uhm kinda read Ship of Magic lately and didn’t really like it. That’s why I started reading Farseer because like Ship of Magic it was recommended by GRRM and I hoped Farseer would be more like ASOIAF. So far it isn’t.

It doesn’t have to be like ASOIAF to be recommended by GRRM or to be a good read
. I prefer Hobb to Martin. Less things happen, but her prose is so beautiful that it doesn’t matter much. ;)

PS: Patrick Rothfuss doesn’t have a heavy emphasis on màgic…I liked The Name of The Wind enough, just a couple aspects bothered me. I though those aspects would dissapear on “A Wise Man’s Fear” but on the contrary they ere the main theme of the book. This guy explanis it better :P http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38361485

Rfresa:
Robin Hobb really sucks at the second books of trilogies. They often feel like filler to stretch out the story before the good stuff happens. I’m glad she dropped the trilogy thing in the Rain Wilds Chronicles.

Yeah except she didn’t? She wrote 3 books but the last one got split in two by the publishers, so thats why we have 4 books. It’s not the endpoint is the journey as they say, don’t just read the books to see “the good stuff” at the end ;)

I find it interesting how many superficial similarities there are in Assasin’s Apprentice to ASOIAF. A noble bastard! A royal stag house! Animal bonding! Stone dragons coming to life! Interestingly, they were first released in 1995 and 1996. Were the authors friends? I love the Realm of the Elderlings series, but I am mad at Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb’s real name) because she has banned fanfiction on her works. I want to start a secret underground fanfiction network just to spite her.

You know Martin also HATES fanfiction right? Yet another thing they have in common ;)

The Accused is a good guess, but I haven’t seen Alfie Allen in that, don’t think he was in the same episode as the others. Come to think of it, I’m not sure Bean was either.

Anyway, here’s another clue:

All of the GoT castmembers are male, and include a King, a Hand, and two Lords of major Houses. Four of them still live in GoT, the fifth is unaccounted for, but it has been hinted that he died offscreen. The miniseries has four episodes and is of a political nature.

Pau Soriano: It doesn’t have to be like ASOIAF to be recommended by GRRM or to be a good read

That’s very true. I guess that’s probably at least part of the reason why I didn’t like Ship of Magic. I had just come off season 3 and wanted basically more GoT so I started looking at what GRRM recommended assuming that that”d be like ASOIAF. Ship of Magic really wasn’t. But so far I’m reasonably enjoying Assassin’s Apprentice so after I finish Farseer I might give Liveship Traders another go.

Interesting review. Rather funny if I say so myself. I’d say part of the reason why she didn’t like it is the smae reason why I didn’t like Ship of Magic. She started with the wrong expectations. She expected to read something fun that she could get carried away with. Malazan is imo a terrific series but reading it is hard work. The prose allthough to my mind rather good does not make for easy reading. Neither does the narative which repeatedly keeps you flabbergasted and that you constantly have to keep up with. Malazan is really the kind of series where you always need to have pen and paper at hand and make notes. I understand that kind of experience is not something everyone’ll enjoy.

As for the characters, I had the exact same feeling as her but with a different series: Riftwar. I care a great deal about the characters in a series. If they’re not well developed I stop reading. For me the characters are the most important part of a fantasy series. And with Malazan I very much liked the characters. Naturally there are characters I like better such as Apsalar and Kruppe and characters I like less such as Karsa Orlong but overall I think Erikson is actually rather good in creating realistic, flawed characters.

PS: Patrick Rothfuss doesn’t have a heavy emphasis on magic…I liked The Name of The Wind enough, just a couple aspects bothered me. I though those aspects would dissapear on “A Wise Man’s Fear” but on the contrary they ere the main theme of the book. This guy explanis it better :P http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38361485

Ah that was a fun review indeed! I have to say though I don’t think I’ll ever read The Kingkiller Chronicles. I see what you mean by that magic isn’t as clearly present as I thought judging from the summary but reading this I still kinda get the idea of a slightly more mature Harry Potter and I don’t like Harry Potter one bit. Also I don’t really like coming of age stories. Probably one of the reasons why I’m not hugely enjoying Farseer so far. Still Assassin’s Apprentice is only 500 pages or so. Compared to The Wise Man’s Fear almost 1000 pages to slog through that’s a walk in the park. Also I have to admit Assassin’s Apprentice can at times be a bit dark and I like that very much.

You know Martin also HATES fanfiction right? Yet another thing they have in common ;)

This is true indeed. Martin’s very outspoken in his hatred for fan-fiction which he deems a waste of time and talent.

This is true indeed. Martin’s very outspoken in his hatred for fan-fiction which he deems a waste of time and talent.

His loss. Some of the best stuff I’ve read is fanfic. And considering how Martin himself turned the fantasy cliches inside out in his own work, that’s isn’t any different from what fanfic does, except it’s official canon and he’s getting paid for it. You could also view re-boot movies like “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “Man of Steel” as fanfic on film, considering what mythology those flicks rewrite.

Who are you to say what should Martin worry about? he can worry about whatevere the fuck he fancies ;)

And besides getting paid for it he did a bit more than “turning the fantasy cliches inside out”…but I’m eagerly awaiting your original effort on the subject, be sure to pass me the link when u get published, I assure u I’ll buy the book ;)

Who are you to say what should Martin worry about? he can worry about whatevere the fuck he fancies ;)

You are absolutely, 1000% right, but we all have a right to express an opinion. Martin spent years creating this saga, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for it, and that first book is truly an instant classic unlike anything out there. That said, once this is out there the general public will all have an opinion. I view fanfic as an opinion, as long as no illegal money is made and there is that entertainment disclaimer attached.

I’m eagerly awaiting your original effort on the subject, be sure to pass me the link when u get published, I assure u I’ll buy the book ;)

Heh, Pau Soriano, I can only dream I had even a tenth of Martin’s writing talent. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’m not even good enough to write fanfic. :-)

And considering how Martin himself turned the fantasy cliches inside out in his own work, that’s isn’t any different from what fanfic does….

I wholeheartedly disagree. Fanfic begins by using the world that a successful author has created from whole cloth. World building, the process of creating an internally consistent and believable fantasy world filled with a variety of cultures, histories, etc is VERY difficult. One of the reasons that Martin gets paid for his work is precisely because of his very rare ability to do such excellent world building. If it was easy and common, we’d all be published authors.

One of the reasons that Martin gets paid for his work is precisely because of his very rare ability to do such excellent world building. If it was easy and common, we’d all be published authors.

I agree. Martin deserves every penny.

What I disagreed with was the opinion that fanfic in general was a waste of time and talent. I truly believe that good fanfic is not easy to write either. It’s not so much world-building as how to present the mythology in a respectful, entertaining, distinctive way. As long as that disclaimer is there and there’s no illegal gains, of course.

Yay Oz glad you’re back and will be around! Now I has an excuse to check here, I was just hitting up WiC.net to see if I could stave off the withdrawal myself…was thinking of rereading the first book and reading the second. I have begun rewatching the series, which is nice because I see things from a different perspective after season 3, and also it’s nice to see some of the characters in happier days with all their body parts (or just alive for that matter). Beric Dundarian stood out to me in a way he didn’t in the first season on rewatching, and he had both his eyeballs intact. Oh, and poor Sansa, when she was enchanted by her golden lion prince. It’s making me antsy to revist the Eyrie though! Maybe I need a vat of milk of the poppy to pass the next ten months. At least there will be more unsullied threads to look forward to!! YAY!!!

No, not really. The first book is all stage setting, but finishes strong. Deadhouse Gates, the second book, is tremendous. The whole series is on a broader scale than ASOIAF–there are long battles with tens of thousands of people fighting, and sieges of cities, and so on–but with some very compelling characters. It’s not for everyone, but I’ve found it very worth my time.

Worthing: No, not really.The first book is all stage setting, but finishes strong. Deadhouse Gates, the second book, is tremendous.The whole series is on a broader scale than ASOIAF–there are long battles with tens of thousands of people fighting, and sieges of cities, and so on–but with some very compelling characters.It’s not for everyone, but I’ve found it very worth my time.

What I disagreed with was the opinion that fanfic in general was a waste of time and talent. I truly believe that good fanfic is not easy to write either. It’s not so much world-building as how to present the mythology in a respectful, entertaining, distinctive way. As long as that disclaimer is there and there’s no illegal gains, of course.

Sigh. . I have a soft spot for fanfic, what can I say?:-)

Yes! Fanfic is just another form of appreciation for the original work, and nothing is 100% original anyway. Does Martin have to explain what dragons are? No, because hundreds of fantasy writers and ancient storytellers have already done that. What are Wicked and Oz the Great and Powerful but fanfiction? Just because the Wiz is now public domain that makes it any more original art? The only distinction is that Baum can’t complain or sue anyone.

The RPG computer game is decent. It has an excellent plot and several twists worthy of GRRM (including one that I think even GRRM would think was too gruesome for the novels). For the plot and the characterisation it is excellent, though the actual writing is a bit variable. It’s unclear if that’s the writer’s fault or the translator’s (the game was made by a French team).

In terms of gameplay it’s a bit ropey. Combat is okay but there’s a lot of backtracking and reuse of the same locations (sometimes rather cleverly, but the game does often feel a bit claustraphobic). The graphics are rather underwhelming, looking like a five-year old game at least. Compared to the WITCHER games, it’s a bit underwhelming but I felt that the game stood up well when compared to DRAGON AGE (DRAGON AGE has much better gameplay and combat, but its story and dialogue is considerably weaker than GoT).

Thanks for the post Oz! It wasn’t what I originally expected, which I think made it all that more hilarious. Loved it!

I agree with one/many of the comments suggesting the board game as a great way to wait out the time until season 4. It’s like Risk taken to a whole new level only way more fun and takes longer to play.

I don’t know if this was suggested above, but also cooking all of the recipes in the Inn at the Crossroads A Song of Ice and Fire cookbook might be fun! You could also take it one step further, and bring those dishes to summer picnics or parties to annoy your friends (like 4th of July).

And I may or may not be able to promise that I won’t be showing up on the peopleofwalmart site for following your advice….

Erikson is probably the best prose-writer in epic fantasy. He didn’t start out that way and probably didn’t get to that stage until the last two or three books of the main series and his new trilogy, but definitely his prose skills are extremely strong.

Of course, prose alone isn’t everything and Erikson’s skills with characterisation, plotting and pacing seem to have declined over the years, though there are signs he’s getting back there. The first book in his new trilogy was very strong indeed.

lies of locke lamora is the first book of the gentlemen bastards series by Scott Lynch. the book is praised by GRRM. it’s a really good read and smartly written. 3rd book will be published this year and is great way for passing time.